It was really a very complex and strange feeling. The valley is extremely beautiful, it was now only starting to get a little green and we saw some cherry blossoms and other flowers, but in a couple of weeks it will most probably be absolutely stunningly beautiful.
The high snow covered mountains of the Hindu Kush in the background, the bubbling stream along the winding road, steep slopes falling down almost horizontally into the valley, every somewhat flat area covered with clay buildings and terraced fields. In the villages the road are lined with small shops and markets and people everywhere, although it is somehow difficult to understand how they can survive there.
At the same time this is one of the areas where the fighting between the Soviet and the mujaheddin was most severe. This is the land of the Lion of the Panjshir, of Ahmad Shah Massoud.
Every where you see pictures of him, on shops, on cars, on the walls of houses and it is here you find his tomb that is a site of pilgrimage for many Afghanis still. At the same time others of course see him as a slaughter.
In the middle of all the serene beauty there are loads of carcasses of old soviet tanks.
They are everywhere, in the fields and in the river, sometimes they are used as road fill or road support!
Completely absurd! And often you see men, and young children carrying guns. We stopped at a small town along the road to buy some kebab and naan and to use the facilities (that is a hole in the ground within clay walls closed off with a wooden door that was about to fall in any time). While stopping there we took a short walk for some 50-100 metres. A bit further up the river we spotted a young boy, maybe 12 years old with a gun. Then we thought it might be a good idea to turn back to the cars. But the boy was coming closer and after a while was circling around the car, sometimes pointing his gun. It made us a little nervous. Later we could confirm that it was actually an air gun, but it is really hard to tell from a distance and especially in a country where guns are so abundant. On the way we passed shops making and selling guns.
Somehow you could feel the history here. Only the names, Panjshir valley, Hindu Kush etc are so loaded with mystery and magic, so often heard of in reports of war and politics. And knowing that this is such an important pass through the Hindu Kush that already Alexander the Great used in his conquests. At the same time it is hard to imagine how any mechanised army could come up with the idea to try to occupy a country like this one.
The local holiday past time; walking and rocking the rope bridge.
One additional perspective to our trip was the two very different background of our two drivers. The one being tajik from the area, being very happy to go here and for whom Massoud seemed to be a big hero. The other one a pashtun, who also had spent some time in the area, but then fighting on the Soviet side. That was the man driving the car I was in and he seemed cool about being there again and did not mind talking about it, but it is hard to know what is going on inside and it was difficult for us to know if it was ok to talk and ask about this when they both were around. It is indeed a complex country.
No comments:
Post a Comment